How to Maintain Work-Life Balance During Lockdown?

We’ve been hearing the term ‘new normal’ constantly since the onset of the global pandemic in early 2020. It describes the new rules that govern our day-to-day lives, intended to keep us safe and curb the spread of Covid19. However, the term new normal appears to be a misfit for what the global community has experienced and continues to experience in the past year. This new way of life is far from normal. But it is temporary. As vaccination programs are being rolled out, the days of the new normal are numbered. However, working from home may be an outcome of the coronavirus that is here to stay.

The future of work may have been reshaped entirely by this global health crisis. World over, organizations, governments, and corporations had no choice but to allow employees to work from home. Only essential services were allowed to operate and that too in compliance with strict safety guidelines increased the cost of operations for most businesses. Work from home has also been a challenge for leadership and employees alike. Fall out in the form of burnout, screen fatigue, and mental health challenges have been common across sectors and professions. As businesses struggle to survive the pandemic, the pressure on employees to perform has been disproportionately high.

As the work from home trend continues maintaining a healthy work-life balance has become crucial to surviving the pandemic. The mounting mental health crisis during these times is evidence that balancing work and rest is essential.

Here are a Few Tips to Maintain a Work-Life Balance During the Lockdown:

1. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating the right food, especially immunity-boosting foods, drinking water at frequent intervals, taking supplements (in consultation with your physician) fortify the immune system and go a long way in elevating your mood and keeping fatigue and lethargy at bay. It also helps keep other health flare-ups and illnesses to the minimum, that we can ill-afford at a time like this.

2. Daily Exercise

Research has found that even 30 minutes of physical exercise, daily, can do great things for your immune system. Regular practice of yoga and meditation are good alternatives to explore when stepping out isn’t feasible. Exercise helps improve blood flow to different parts of the body, reduces stress, facilitates healing, and invigorates the mind and body. Indoor exercises that stretch and strengthen your arms, back, shoulders and legs help relieve pains and aches that develop from long hours of sitting in front of the screen.

3. Set Up A WorkStation at Home

One of the hardest things about working from home is the lack of a dedicated space where you can sit for hours without being disturbed and focus on the tasks at hand. Space is indeed a luxury, especially in metro cities. Make the best of what you have by creating a workstation that has adequate lighting, space for your gadgets, and a comfortable seating arrangement to compliment it. If it can be secluded from the rest of the house, even better.

4. Rest

Adequate rest from work responsibilities is imperative to prevent burnout. Ensure fixed work timings. Leave your work at the workstation or study in the same way you leave your work duties at your workplace when you leave. Create opportunities to unwind during the week and weekends which means taking a break from household chores such as cleaning, cooking, and organizing. Maintaining regular sleep hours and getting enough sleep is a significant contributor to an overall sense of well-being.

5. Make Time to Socialize

We may be physically distant from friends and loved ones but we don’t need to socially distance in the literal sense of the word. Speaking to loved ones by calling them or doing a video chat, if you aren’t exhausted from staring at a screen, will do more to uplift your mood than watching a movie. Besides, it is a good way to care for people in your life and community, including coworkers.

6. Create Routines

Create a routine that energizes and excites you. Small wellness rituals, whether it is taking a short walk post-lunch, listening to your favourite music when you take a shower, or listening to a podcast, or reading an interesting book. Eating at restaurants, watching movies in cinemas, travelling and visiting our friends are not activities we have the pleasure of undertaking in the near future. So creating a routine that you look forward to everyday is a small way of bringing some sense of adventure and joy to days spent under lockdown.

Conclusion

As a popular piece of wisdom goes - a healthy person has a thousand desires, but a sick person has only one - to get better. Prioritizing your health above all else is the need of the hour. Even if it means that the scales tilt in the balance of more life and less work. Focusing on your wellbeing - both physical and mental is critical.

Securing your finances against sudden illness or hospitalization expenses by buying health insurance is essential. Not only does it reduce the stress related to the uncertainty of illness, but it helps you access quality medical care at a time when the cost of medical treatments has escalated. Affordable health insurance premiums, cashless claims, and auto-renewal features make health insurance a no-brainer.